010315 Argentina To Vaccinate Cattle Herds

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Argentina announced a $22 million dollar plan to vaccinate cattle herds against foot-and-mouth disease.

There have been no confirmed cases of the disease in Argentina, the world's fourth-largest cattle exporter, but there have been reports of possible cases in the countryside.

Argentina's top agricultural sanitation official, Victor Machinea, said 12 million cattle would be vaccinated and herd movements would be controlled nationwide.

The move comes after a number of cattle on Argentina's far northern border with Paraguay were found to have traces of the antibodies that can cause the highly infectious disease.

Tests will be carried out to determine if herds have been infected, Machinea said. It could take 10 days for those results to come in.

It is hoped that the government's measures will help reassure export markets that Argentina remains free of the fatal cattle disease, which does not affect humans.

After years of battling foot-and-mouth disease, Argentina was finally declared disease-free last year by the International Epizootic Office.

Foot-and-mouth disease was discovered at a slaughterhouse in southern England on Feb. 19 - Britain's first outbreak in two decades. More than 25,000 livestock have been destroyed so far in Britain, where killing herds in infected areas is considered the only means of eradication.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com